“Project Blue Light” Ceremony Honors Fallen Bucks Officers

Police officers who died while protecting and serving their fellow Bucks County residents will not be forgotten.

That message, indelible in the law enforcement community, was underscored publicly for the 10th year today as officers and public officials gathered at the county seat to illuminate the Project Blue Light Memorial Wreath.

The six-foot wreath, affixed to the third-floor rotunda of the Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown, features blue lights and 12 white ornaments – one for each law enforcement officer to have died in the line of duty since 1914.

The ceremony was led by Bensalem Township Public Safety Director Fred Harran, outgoing president of the Police Chiefs’ Association of Bucks County.

“We thank you for taking the time to recognize us with the symbol of the blue light for all police officers who are risking their lives every day all over this county,” Harran said. “We go to sleep at night knowing that our officers are out there patrolling, and that at any one moment something can happen.”

As the wreath was illuminated, Harran concluded: “On behalf of the 800 police officers across the county, we thank you for your support.”

Project Blue Light is a nationwide observance begun 30 years ago by Dolly Craig of Philadelphia.

In 1988, Ms. Craig placed two blue candle lights in the window of her home: one in honor of her son-in-law, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Gleason, killed in the line of duty 1986; and one for her daughter Pam, Gleason’s wife, who died in an auto crash in 1988. The couple had six children.

Ms. Craig wrote of her simple gesture to Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) an organization dedicated to families of fallen officers, which helped the idea take hold nationally.